Programme announced for the 10th Oslo Series Days

The newly announced programme for the anniversary edition of Oslo Series Days (Seriedagene Oslo) promises “inspiring panel talks, sharp analysis, and insights from some of the most renowned creators and industry professionals – from both Norway and abroad”. The event will also this year be divided into an Industry Day (on Thursday 25 September) and a Masterclass Day (Friday 26 September).

During the Industry Day, the undeniably hot topic of Artificial Intelligence will be covered by several sessions. These include filmmaker, writer and media creative Albert Bozesan’s presentation of insights on storytelling and AI, titled “The AI Hybrid Feature”, and writers/directors Sam Stephens and Edmond Yang’s talk “Moving Beyond One-Person Prompting”, as well as a panel of Norwegian creatives and professionals discussing the possibilities offered by this new world of technology.

Two Norwegian series coming this autumn – TV 2’s Escaping Bolivia (Flukten fra Boliva), telling the story of three young Norwegian women imprisoned in Bolivia in 2008, and NRK’s Holmlia Love (Etter Benjamin), about the murder of 15-year-old Benjamin Hermansen by neo-Nazis in 2001 – dramatise true events that are already well known from the media. Their approaches and challenges will be discussed by Escaping Bolivia director Emilie Beck and writer Helena Nielsen together with Holmlia Love creator Mikael Diseth and executive producer Alec Thom. Both series are supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

As several Norwegian medical and hospital themed series are currently in the pipeline, local creators should presumably take notes when Thomas Moran, writer and executive producer of series such as House M.D. and The Good Doctor, will talk about key success factors for medical dramas. In addition to this Industry Day session, Moran will hold a masterclass on a similar topic the following day.

From Australia, script executive Louise Bowes comes to talk about one of the world’s longest running series, Home and Away. Under the headline “The Art of Making Soap Opera”, Bowes will share experiences from the daily production of the successful Aussie soap, which has been running for an impressive 37 years – with a total number of more than 8,600 episodes. Like Moran, Bowes will both do a session on the Industry Day and a masterclass the day after.

Following the established procedure, the Summit of Norwegian Heads of Drama will have the decision makers – NRK’s Head of Drama Marianne Furevold, TV 2’s Head of Drama Alice Sommer and Prime Video’s Head of Content, Nordics Andreas Hjertø – answering the questions on the industry’s minds.

In addition, Rubicon’s CEO Ivar Køhn, who has previously held leading positions at both NRK Drama and the Norwegian Film Institute, will share his perspectives and thoughts on the last decade of Norwegian drama series production. Furthermore, there will be a discussion of the Norwegian Film and Series Production Incentive scheme, with industry members and representatives as well as politicians among the panellists.

Researchers Vilde Schanke Sundet and Nils Petter Strømmen from Kantar will give an overview of the most important events that have happened since the industry got together at Oslo Series Days one year ago, while Danish author, trend forecaster and communications agency founder Julia Lahme will take a look at the trends and forces shaping our future in her keynote speech “TrendForecast – Your Shortcut to the Future”.

The programme also includes other talks and discussions than the ones mentioned, as well as pitches from unestablished new talents, the critics’ awards for last year’s best Norwegian series, and presentations of some of the most anticipated upcoming titles. Plus, a sneak peek at the first episode of Nepobaby, the new TV 2 series from creators Henriette Steenstrup and Siri Seljeseth and director Gunnar Vikene, which won two awards at Canneseries in April.

The Industry Day on September 25th will take place at the Dance Artists’ House (Dansens Hus) and the closely located Ingensteds, while the Masterclass Day September 26th will be hosted by the Norwegian Film Institute’s Cinematheque (Cinemateket). Parts of the programme are in Norwegian, others in English.

To the full programme: CLICK HERE.

The Oslo Series Days festival is organised by Aftenposten in collaboration with NRK, TV 2, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Writers Guild of Norway, The Norwegian Film Workers’ Union and the Norwegian Producers' Association Virke.